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Programming Concepts Intermediate

What is Functional Programming?

A programming paradigm that treats computation as the evaluation of mathematical functions, avoiding state changes and mutable data.

Functional programming emphasizes pure functions (same input always produces same output, no side effects), immutable data, and function composition. Key concepts include map, filter, reduce, recursion, and higher-order functions.

Benefits include easier testing (pure functions), parallelism (no shared state), and predictable behavior. Languages include Haskell, Erlang, Clojure, and Scala. Most modern languages (Python, JavaScript, Java) support functional features.

Related Terms

Event-Driven Architecture
A software design pattern where components communicate by producing and consuming events rather than direct method calls.
Garbage Collection
An automatic memory management process that identifies and reclaims memory no longer in use by a program.
Thread
The smallest unit of execution within a process, allowing concurrent operations to run within a single program.
Clean Code
Code that is easy to read, understand, and maintain — following consistent conventions, meaningful naming, and single-responsibility functions.
Data Structure
A way of organizing and storing data in a computer so it can be accessed and modified efficiently.
Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)
A programming paradigm that organizes software design around objects containing data and behavior.
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